After serving nine years of a life sentence for the manslaughter of a former beauty queen Shona Pickton returns to her home town of Felixstowe exonerated after an appeal quashed her conviction. She has always protested her innocence - despite being tried and convicted by the media long before her trial. Determined to clear her name Shona insists that one man can corroborate her story: well-known police informer Karl Cuskie her alibi for the night Cassandra Norton died. But then Cuskie is found dead throwing the reopened case wide open. Terrified for her life Shona turns to police specialist Dr Cora Lael. But Cora is torn: should she help Shona behind the back of her police colleagues? And when a trail of corruption leads to the heart of South Suffolk CID can Cora unmask the killer before they come for Shona?

Part of the Cora Lael series.